Retinitis Pigmentosa Treatment Update

In a potential breakthrough, especially for those suffering from retinitis pigmentosa who have lost vision due to degenerated photoreceptors in their retina, scientists from the University College of London (UCL) Institute of Ophthalmology have managed to transfer immature (or progenitor) rod-photoreceptor cells – cells that are more developed than stem cells, but not quite mature rod cells – from healthy mice into those suffering from deficiencies in photoreceptors (blind mice) and, after a few weeks, have found that the transplanted cells appeared to be functioning almost as well as normal rod-photoreceptor cells and had formed the connections needed to transmit visual information to the brain.